Career guidance in secondary education in Vietnam follows two tracks: (1) Career Orientation (CO) provided through specifically dedicated periods and extra-curricular activities; and (2) vocational taster courses. These taster coursesr are provided 1. as part of the technology subject and 2. as education of general professional (EGP) periods which are delivered at schools and Centres for General Techniques-Career Orientation (CCOs).
Career orientation is currently offered from grade 9 to grade 12, during 9 periods per school year (as provisioned in 7475/BGDĐT-GDTrH). The teachers’ books on CO activity issued in 2006 by MOET is the main official documents for teachers to deliver these 9 periods.
What other materials that the CO teachers need to perform their tasks? On 21st July 2012, 31 participants from DOETs, BOETs, Secondary Schools and CCO in Nghe An and Quang Nam provinces gathered in Vinh City to discuss this. As an additional reference they used the provincial career guidance vision which was formulated earlier this year.
A “career development framework” for secondary students was developed and this was used as basis for analysing needs of the materials. The framework takes into account the decision of Governmental Council number 126-CP, MOET’s guidelines and career guidance framework, provincial visions on CG and applied BLOOM's Taxonomy of Learning Domains on assessment of learning capacity. The “career development framework” includes career guidance competencies for students of each grade and criteria to assess these competencies. It is divided in 3 sections: 1. “Self awareness”; 2. “Occupation awareness” and 3. “Building a career plan”.
The participants (all are from schools where 9 periods of CO are delivered) were divided into 4 groups to discuss the career guidance competencies required for students, to comment on the recommendations on revising of existing materials that were made by an external consultant . The leaders and managers of DOETs and BOETs commented on criteria for assessment competencies of the students and acted as peer reviewers on teachers’ comments.
Participants actively discussed and shared their opinions and came to a better understanding on career guidance. The results of discussions will be incorporated in the review of CO materials report and will be used to finalise the proposed revisions. These products will be used to support both province partners to update documents for CO activity.
Apart from these contributions from the provinces VVOB also contracted experts from the Institute for Educational Research of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy, additionally a peer reviewer was hired finalise development of the report and revision plan.
